Spanish energy companies They will need to meet their energy savings goals and incur a cost of millions of dollars to achieve this. In line with the new requirements to reduce energy consumption set by EU legislation, the Government is increasing the cost of contributions exponentially. Spanish oil, electricity and gas companies It must be made to the National Energy Efficiency Fund (FNEE) in 2024. 795 million euros According to the report of EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA (twice as high as 393 million last year and four times as high as 191 million in 2022).
The Ministry of Ecological Transition, led by Vice President Teresa Ribera, has activated the process of approving the new regulation to calculate how much and at what cost marketers of electricity, natural gas and fuel must reduce energy consumption this year. Last year the European Union approved a new energy efficiency directive This will force member states to gradually increase their energy saving targets by 2030, causing the cost of Spanish companies’ contributions to the FNEE to skyrocket again.
The new community regulations increase and will continue energy companies’ mandatory target of reducing annual energy consumption by 0.8% in average energy sales for the three-year period between 2016 and 2018, from 0.8% in 2023 to 1.3% this year. In the coming years, this increase will increase to 1.5% in 2026 and 1.9% in 2028. In conclusion, Energy end-use savings target increases to 4,361 gigawatt hours (GWh) for this year equivalents and the cost of these savings will also increase rapidly. And it is the large energy groups that will continue to bear the majority of this amount.
repsol This year, this group made the largest contribution to the Energy Efficiency Fund, with a total of 177.4 million euros for its different subsidiaries selling electricity or petroleum products, more than double last year’s 77 million euros. They follow him Endesawith 97.15 million compared to 48.6 million in 2022; cepsawith 85 million compared to 38.4 million the previous year; Naturewith 67.7 million compared to 38 million in 2022; Iberdrola, with 59.6 million among its different subsidiaries, compared to 29.5 million in the previous year; and oil company B.P.While it was only 17 million in 2022, this figure reached 41.5 million.
Resale of savings between companies
680 companies affected by the energy saving regulation are obliged to make a cash injection into the National Energy Efficiency Fund at the rate of 35 percent of the contribution fee. In other words, energy groups must contribute at least 278 million of the total contribution of 795 million to the fund (last year, minimum cash payments were 60% and the total was 236 million). The rest of the contributions can be exchanged by companies for energy savings certificates, which show the measures the company has adopted to reduce energy use.
Last year the Government created a market for energy companies to resell the energy savings for which they are legally liable through a new system of Energy Savings Certificates, allowing electricity, oil and gas companies to have the option of marketing these obligations. Marked by the EU.
The new mechanism, designed by the Ministry of Energy Conversion, allows energy companies to both purchase these savings certificates from large industrial customers and sell them to other companies. They can exchange them for a discount on million-dollar contributions to the National Energy Efficiency Fund. Until last year, only companies in Spain could make financial contributions equivalent to millions of dollars to FNEE.
With the new market created by the state, companies also need to pay annual energy savings fees. They can voluntarily exchange a percentage of their payments to the fund for certified energy savings (Approved identification of saving measures for air conditioning, lighting, mobility, industrial processes…). Each certificate is equivalent to saving one kilowatt hour).
Energy companies can liquidate the certificates they obtain by proving that they have fulfilled their savings obligations, and they can also market them by allowing other obligated companies to purchase and liquidate them. Moreover, Energy companies can also purchase certificates from their customers (industrial groups, neighborhood communities…) achieve energy savings after investing in efficiency.